Today saw absolutely beautiful race conditions for the running of the 2016 Fingal 50. The race saw each group keep their riders working well in true handicap style racing. But it was the back markers who caught each group in turn before a three way sprint finish. The race was won by Scott Smith (our number one club rider) who also took out fastest time. David Bingley was second from Ian Leighton third. It was another great turnout with about 50 riders on the start line. Thanks goes to the Fingal Festival for sponsoring the race, to volunteers who drove that long way so we would have the luxury of riding and to the riders who rode hard but safely. Finally thanks to the commissaires for keeping an eye on us. If you haven’t done this race before you must give it a go. It was great standing around after the race relaxing in the sunshine. Must also say great work from the Chief handicapper to see the groups come together just before the end of the race.

Scott Smith unleashing the power and timing to take out his 2nd Feature race in last 12 months …

Thank you to all the people who made 2015 another highly successful year for our club. Keith Dolting was a founding member of the club and on Sunday he was talking about how the club started off with a few racers thinking it would be good to get together and have a race on a Sunday. He said at that stage they would never have imagined it would become what it is today.

The volunteers and the people who come out week after week, not only make it possible for the club to continue, but they play a very strong role in determining the culture of the club. It is the volunteers that are the first to greet the riders and set the tone for the day. It is the same volunteers who by their presence, especially on those cold horrible days, that make it impossible for the riders not to be grateful for the opportunity to race. Being grateful for the chance to race suddenly makes winning and results less important, and as a result our club’s aim of providing safe and enjoyable racing comes to life. Every year we acknowledge a Club Person of the Year and with names like Keith Dolting, Charles Barker, Lynne Woodfall, Jay De Gier, Eileen Hillier, Amy Moore and Gary Woodfall I am sure this will give you a clear picture of what sort of contribution this award signifies.

The 2015 Club Persons of the Year Award was awarded to 2 couples:

Congratulations and Thank You – John and Eileen Hillier & Gavin and Amy Moore.

These couples are there almost every week at 830am and are usually amongst the last to leave. They are there to set , help on the table, Amy always drives to assist Lynne and others on the finishing line whereas Eileen stays at the desk and monitors the numbers and keep an eye on all of our gear. Both John and Gavin are always keen to fill holes in the duty roster and assist with whatever is required. These guys keep our club going!!

In 2015, you would be aware that we felt we wanted to acknowledge the efforts of our older riders. Many of us who race, know the ups and downs of motivation, and know at times it is hard to keep riding. We can only hope that continue to ride as we get older. The older riders provide motivation and are in many ways role models for the younger riders to aspire to, as they are simply inspirational. So when we decided we wanted to reward our most consistent rider and performer every year, we felt it was important to have a general classification and an over 60 Award, and for the first year we should begin with the Over 60 Award only.

The 2015 “Club Aggregate Award” for the most consistent rider,
in terms of attendance and performance:

Congratulations and so well deserved – Ric Easton

Ric Easton, who not only had tremendous performances, rode an amazing 34 races out of 40, more than any other competitor …all whilst living in Sheffield. This is an unbelievable input into the culture of our club and strongly epitomizes a great deal of what this club is about. As Scott Watson wrote, the humility Ric displayed upon receiving this award was wonderful and demonstrates even further how deserving a winner he is.

The 2015 Stand Out Rider Award was awarded to:

Paul Headlam

Paul joined the club and had his first race just over a year ago. In his first year Paul had the 3rd equal highest no. of races, won 5 GMS races, 1 Graded Handicap and a 2nd in our biggest feature race ….going from E grade to C grade (knocking on door of B Grade) along the way. A great attitude to riding and a pure gentleman of the club.

The Tas Mobile Caravan Service KOM was also a new initiative this year and it certainly livened up a few races in the first 20kms and provided many riders with a lesson on the importance of the Warm Up. It was hotly contested and popular amongst the riders. Thank you to Jen and Peter Booth for their generous sponsorship of the event. It wasn’t until late in the year that it became known that there was serious prize money and we have a feeling that it will be hotly contested from race 1 next year.

Thank you to Gary Woodfall for his tireless work in collating the attendance and results of every rider for every race so as these awards are possible. Another example of the fantastic contribution people make to the club, behind the scenes. Thanks to Jay for another great year of photos ……Lynne for all the work organising the Xmas Lunch …..and on the list goes.

Thank you to our fantastic President Luke Moore and his committee for the work they have done this year. It’s often hard work fronting up on those days where you are not 100% or have a million other things to do but this group gives up a lot of their own time to keep the show on the road.

Finally thanks to the riders and their families, for coming out, riding hard but keeping it in perspective. It’s certainly a great club that we are lucky to have, we must continue to respect it and value what we have.

With a rather strong tail wind, a good field of 68 riders headed in the 18th Annual Longford to Campbell Town. On the long climb approaching Valleyfield Road, Robert Wrigley rode away from the leaders, and by the top of the climb had established a break of around 300 metres, which looked like a possible winning break. But it was the determination of Paul Headlam and Phil Stevenson that saw them catch Wrigley on the last climb around 3km from the finish, here they attacked him and were able to ride away to contest a 2 up sprint for the title with Phil Stevenson becoming the first dual winner at 71 years old (he also won in 2013). Mike Walsh got a break on the long downhill finish to take out fastest time.

In the Inaugural “Campbell Town Dash” over 41km we also had a 2 up sprint with Tony Savage winning from Jen Booth and Ken Parker.

NB: This is only a summary of key points that we consider may be of interest to members

UPCOMING RACES

The Committee discussed the upcoming Crit and Feature Races:

The Finns Bodyworks Symmons Plains Crit on Sun 11th of October.

The Committee are pleased to confirm the sponsorship of the Crit event has been confirmed by Gene Finn and it was agreed to begin promoting the event and produce a flyer. As usual Gary Woodfall appears to already have this done.

The eligibility for this event was discussed and it was agreed to open it up as an invitational event to non-club members providing they were able to produce evidence of Cycling Australia membership. It was also agreed that we should stick to our club’s policy of providing racing for Women over 30 and Men over 35.The Somercotes Longford to Campbelltown on Sun 25th of October.

The Committee are pleased to announce that Dave and Julie Bingley have agreed to continue their sponsorship of our premiere road race. This very generous sponsorship is significant for the club in terms of this event and the general running of the club over the year.

We felt it was important to remind riders of the eligibility criteria for this race so please check the website for this if you are considering entering and have not raced a lot over the last 12months.

The Graham Kearney Blackwood Creek 70

Neil Kearney confirmed sponsorship for this event again this year and following discussion with the Longford Esk Cycling Club we confirmed they are still happy for us to run this memorial event as our Blackwood Creek 70 Race this year.

Numbers – feeling that these numbers were not the same quality as the samples provided- however these number are ok and working well at this stage.

FINANCES

It was noted that we have just over $11K in our bank and it was again discussed that while this a positive to have this amount, in real terms it is not a great deal should we be required to replace something like the trailer and the gear it contains. It was also noted again that we are not aiming to build this amount and that we currently aim to use all of the money that comes in to the benefit of the current members / riders.

We are making approx. $20-$40 a race … and it was noted that on the week we have had sandwiches / soup we lost $6- which we discussed was well a small amount to pay for such a positive event.NEWSLETTER

It was also agreed to bring back the printed newsletter. It was acknowledged that much of the newsletter will contain information / articles that are currently on the website or facebook page but it was agreed that some members may still prefer this style of publication. The intention is to produce one each quarter.RACE COMMITTEE

The Committee agreed that the Race committee is working well and it is a positive initiative to finally get up and running.

NEW NUMBERS

On behalf of the members the committee would like to thank Bike Central for the sponsorship of the new numbers. It was agreed to trial this new style of number and we will give them some time and then review this.

TAS MOBILE SERVICE KOM

This was discussed and it was agreed that it was still adding that something extra to races and was definitely being viewed in the right way by riders and was proving to be a positive addition to racing.

FINN’S BODYWORKS CRITERIUMS

Thanks to Gene Finn for his magnificent Sponsorship of the Criteriums at Symmons Plains

The committee recently had an excellent discussion on the value of our older riders and members.
Apart from acknowledging that we are all heading that way, and that week after week many of our older riders continue to amaze and inspire us ,the discussion centred on what can we do better in supporting and valuing our older riders.

We have given the Race Committee the job of determining how we can best provide and include our older and lower grade riders in our Feature Races and this has seen some positive discussions emerge, stay tuned.

We are also planning to present a RIDER OF THE YEAR AWARD based on participation and results, and while we may extend this in the future to a general award for 2016 we will only have the one award for riders 60 and over in the year 2015.

Who will be the RIDER OF THE YEAR 2015 (Over 60) ?

FORMALISATION OF RACE COMMITTEE

It has became apparent that as a committee dealing with whole of club issues such as sponsors, finances, club culture etc we simply were not putting sufficient time into looking at the racing rosters and race day procedures, and that other individuals were carrying this load, in many cases without support. As a result, we felt it was important to ensure we had a Race Committee that could keep an eye on and take responsibility for all things pertaining to our club racing.

In an effort to prevent the recurring problem of Race Committees not being formed it was decided that the Race Committee shall consist of the Executive of General Committee and the Handicapping Team.

Thank you to those people who have been fulfilling their commitment to our club, it simply cannot run without volunteers.
An excellent example this past weekend where we had 3 duty people who simply have not been racing and two not actually current members, but they all turned up and did a great job. #respect

We wish to remind you that if you are a “No Show” for a duty you will most likely be required to perform a duty prior to being permitted to enter the next feature races. If this applies to you please contact Darren Cook.

HOW MANY RIDERS MAKE A RACE?

The Race Committee have agreed that the minimum numbers of riders that a grade would ideally be asked to race with is 5. If the grade has less than 5 riders then it will be combined with another grade or riders may be split between two grades. Whilst we do not like to do this, the feedback is overwhelmingly against riding off in small groups….especially on cold windy days!!

THE TAS. MOBILE CARAVAN SERVICE KOM / QOM SERIES – Kicked off this week

Thank you to Peter Booth and Jen Badcock of Tas Mobile Caravan Service for sponsoring this series which will run until the end of the year. So far the feedback has been positive as it adds that extra interest on race day. Please remember this is an honour system and we ask riders to claim their places. Points are transferable if you move grades as there will be one KOM winner at the end of the year!!

Finally …..please remember this club is run by volunteers and we appreciate any ideas and feedback …as a committee we will do our best but we will not guarantee to get it right every time ….Safe Riding!!

Based on feedback and conversations with a variety of members over the last few months the committee wishes to clarify the current criteria for qualifying for our club feature races.

We currently run 4 Feature Races a year: Fingal (Feb/Mar); Quamby (Apr/May); Longford to Campbell Town (Sep/Oct); and the Blackwood Creek 70 (Nov/Dec).

These events are aimed at creating interest, variety and hopefully the opportunity for success in our racing season for our members. We value the club feel we have, and recognise that the volunteers and the riders who turn up regularly make the club what it is. It is with this fact in mind that we aim to ensure that the riders who turn up week in week out are not disadvantaged by virtue of having a more accurate handicapping profile.

As a result it is a requirement that riders have made a minimum of 5 commitments (e.g. duty, volunteering or racing) to the club in the 12 months prior to each feature race, these must include a min. of 3 normal club races. NB: If a rider has not raced regularly enough for the handicappers to form an accurate assessment of their form, in the month or two leading up to the feature race, it is likely that the said rider may receive a grade higher than they were expecting.

In perfect weather conditions, the most even and solid scratch bunch set out after the limit group on 21 minutes, and all in between at a frenetic pace, which they were good enough to maintain for the 68kms of the race. With around 6kms to go approaching the hill for the last time, Mike Walsh attacked off the front of the group, but was kept under a tight rein by the rest of the bunch. At the finishing Sprint it was one the Club’s most consistent performers and racers that held sway, with Scott Smith winning from Matt Sydes, Matt Bernal (who might now believe in his ability) followed by an impressive list of great riders.
We also had a great mix of riders who were successful in the King or Queen of the Mountains for each group.
Thanks to all the volunteers who make our racing possible.

Make sure you have a look at the great photos on our facebook site that capture the day !!

The best way to approach a handicap race is for everyone to work together to keep your group ahead of the one behind and catch the one ahead and place your bunch to the front of the race (on time) so one of you (your team) can try and win it. It’s a team event until you hit the front.

In contrast, some people ride handicap races the same as graded mass start races, treating others in their group as threats, and sitting in the bunch conserving energy waiting for the sprint, or even attacking their own group. In a handicap event you should not attack your own bunch, or attempt to put them under pressure, as this disrupts the flow and slows things down. You might be the strongest in the group but it is very unlikely that you are stronger than your group combined, you will need them to get to the finish at the front of the race. You should be working with them, not against them. But feel free to attack inside the last few kilometres if you think you can get to the line, and as a group you can attack any other bunch at any time.

In a handicap event there is a clear expectation that everyone who can, should do their share of turns. Even if you are a sprinter thinking of the win, you should still try to do your fair share of the work, so as you can ethically sprint, it’s a team event remember.

Being part of a well-functioning group in a handicap race where everyone is sharing the workload, aiming to close the gap to the group ahead while working hard to stay ahead of chasers behind, can be an exciting and satisfying experience. The focus should be on getting your group working together properly and sometimes if one or two back off a little the group will actually go quicker.

At the last committee meeting there was a discussion around the race duty roster and particularly, whether or not members could pay a set fee ie $50.00 to opt out of doing duty for a year. This is apparently used by some cycling clubs on the mainland and is worthy of consideration. There would need to be rules around it should it be implemented as it could cause unnecessary problems. Some of the things that would need to be considered are:

Should we cap the number of people who could opt out?

How do we decide who opts out should we receive a high number of people wanting to ?

I would recommend, if we go down this path, that we cap it at around 20 as this would raise $1000 for the club and still leave sufficient numbers to perform duty. I also believe that approval should be at the committee’s discretion and preference will be given to encouraging people to join the club, those that are unable to race often throughout the year due to work or family commitments and other hardship reasons.

We are also considering trying to be more inclusive with the duty roster by getting more feedback from members about when they can or cannot do duty and trying, as much as possible, to accommodate these requests.

Please do not respond on the Facebook site but please leave your thoughts on the relevant post on the website. Please keep your comments polite and constructive.

While Facebook will still be the spot for quick updates and online social interaction, this site will be for longer term information for members and articles. It is hoped that with this new format that we will have more people being able to keep the website up-to-date and that there will be more opportunity for members to interact through comments on articles.

No doubt it will also have some limitations compared to the traditional structure but we are hoping that the ease to update and the ability to interact may outweigh those limitations.